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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Curb tree

Baby its cold outside, so the pellet stove is cranking. There is a short period of time between Halloween
and Christmas that the house is not being conditioned in some way. Late spring the pollen and warming afternoon
temps have us closing the windows and setting the thermostat on the AC at like
76 so that the house does not get too hot.
Come summer, the humidity is usually high enough to make it feel like a
sauna upstairs, so the thermostat gets a tweak down to 74. Once we get to the end of summer, the AC runs
less and less until we have that perfect couple of months when as Goldilocks would say, “Is Just Right”. I like the
seasons, but autumn is becoming my favorite.

I noticed lots of Christmas trees parked at the curb this year. Was it too early to take down the tree and the lights ? I recall Sue wanting to leave the tree and lights up until after "Little Christmas" passed.

Little Christmas (Irish: Nollaig Bheag) is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Feast of the Epiphany. It is so called because under the older Julian calendar, Christmas Day celebrations fell on that day whereas under the Gregorian calendar it falls on December 25th. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in Ireland.[1]

Did I notice the trees this year because we had a
real tree this year and took it down the other day. Did you ever think of how many trees are bought
and then a few weeks later, left outside after they have served their purpose.
This has to be good for the local economy, as growers, truckers, distributors,
and those neighborhood lots pop up to sell them. In some towns, the curbed trees are
collected and mulched which I think is a good idea. Islip Town has pick up
during the 1st two weeks in January.
I have even heard of Christmas trees
making their way into lakes to form artificial reefs or structure to boost the
population of forage fish which in turn attracts and holds bigger fish
nearby. I like that too.

This day in history “On this day in
1996, General Motors announces at the Greater Los Angeles Auto
Show it will build an electric car, dubbed the EV1, to be launched in the fall
of that year.”

All I can say is “EPIC FAIL”

I am thinking about buying an American car for the 1st
time since 1995. Ford has a new C-MAX
ENERGI coming to market, hopefully this year.
I sure hope this gas/electric PLUG IN hybrid gives Toyota a run for the money
and the Government offers subsidies to sweeten the deal. Ford won’t say how much it will cost, but
market insiders are suggesting $30K or so.
If that is true, they may be pricing me out.